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Monday, September 28, 2009

why restrict the beach to being just a summer playground when you can have just as much fun laying on the warm sand on a crisp autumn day?

That's the mood of this editorial from the October issue of Flair magazine. Stylist Sally Lyndley has swaddled Behati Prinsloo in thick knit scarves as a nod to the new season but also added a chocolate coloured velvet minidress and bubblegum thigh high boots for a flirty transistional twist. Throw in that lovely September haze courtesy of Matthew Vriens-Mcgrath's lens and hey presto, you have a fresh spin on the 'it's september, better shake up your wardrobe' spread.me likey.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

please bare with me while I get my arse into gear..feeling a little bit under the weather; drinking lots of hot honey and lemon when I'm not doing lots of shifts at topshop. ugh.show reports up soon, i promise!

PS, this is partly for you readers but also mostly for my Granny.you see, she reads this everyday and if I don't post, she nags!I rather like it when she does though.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Possibly the most bizarrely surreal experience.. I'm at the Burberry afterparty and sitting about two metres behind me (no joke) is Carine Roitfeld along with Julia and the rest of the Paris Vogue team. Susie Bubble and Tommy Ton were also just sat over in another corner while Katie Grand and Team Love are also here.

Okay now Carine is fully dancing, me and Ella from Cocos Tea Party are unanimous that she would be the best drinking partner ever, perfect for dancing beside on tables.

I'm having this internal dilemna; do I act all cool and aloof and pretend not to care about the fact that my heroes are standing beside me. Or do I go all out and snap and take videos? Well, a combination of the two, but I know if I do not get photographic evidence I will hate myself for the rest of my days. So I shot a video of Carine dancing. Just for all of you! Until Julia noticed me..

Feels like everything has been pretty crazy over the past couple of days, it's been mind blowing to see and walk past industry insiders and people who I hold in high esteem. It's all rather overwhelming. It has however, but a comfort returning to my Aunt's flat each night, kicking back, sipping large quantities and peppermint tea and laughing at Come Dine With Me. It's the perfect remedy to the headfuck that meeting the likes of Garance Dore and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld can cause!

The Burberry Prosum show is tonight so I'll be meeting up with Coco and Disney roller Girland then heading onto the afterparty which is being held at the Burberry headquarters. Each Fashion Week, the growing importance in the role of Bloggers becomes more and more noticeable, and Burberry really seem to be on top of things in this department. Not only have they invited a few of us, they're also embracing the internet further and broadcasting the show live from their website. Watch it and you should be able to peek Anna Wintour, Alexa Chung and if the rumours are true.. The Olsen twins.

As amazing as it's all been I'm now rather looking forward to returning home, resuming with usual posting and giving my Mum a big hug, as she and my Step dad are back from a fortnight traveling around Europe.Hurrah!

I know, I know, only one day left of London Fashion Week. But be sure to check outThe Daily. Have have a flick through the archive too. Our very own Disney Roller Girl has been contributing, and there are hoards of pretty backstage pics from David Hayes and it's just as quirky as it's mother publication Rubbish.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

i wish I was as good at keeping on top of blogging and the latest shows as dear susie bubble!

either way, i'm off to london; the topshop unique show today. and then burberry on tuesday followed by the afterparty which I'm insanely excited about. (word is Wintour, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Alexa Chung, Agyness Deyn are all to be in attendance..) I'll take as many pictures as possible and I might throw a paper aeroplane across the room with a message for the Olsens letting them know that we all love them. I don't know how else I would speak to them..

Rachel Comey's was by far my favourite collection for it's sheer wearability and the aesthetic parallel to the sartorial references that have been buzzing about in my head of late. Namely thigh grazing summer shorts (bye bye denim cut-offs!) and little seventies dresses, belted. The kind of outfits that make perfect sense when worn kicking about a flower market on a Sunday; a mixture of suitable hardy with buttoned up (all the way) blouses and overall dresses but with girlish charm thrown in in the form of flirty necklines and dainty prints.

If the sexy, studded, body conscious look was the zietgiest of Summer 2009, then Comey's show symbolises that the first spring of the new decade will favour the 'less is more' mantra. Think preppy but in a tomboyish Brooklyn way over any Upper East Side pearls and twinset stereotype. Brits may think of the 1970's sitcom The Good Life and channel an updated Barbara Good. Otherwise Michelle Williams and Au Revoir Simone are the poster girls and the "keep one half covered" rule shall resume with cheeky hemlines perfectly balanced along with elbow patch cardigans or oversize blouses in hawaiian prints. Instead of the edgy accessories or tough fabrics favoured over the past two seasons, a bike, knapsack or straw basket will do to finish off an outfit.

As biased as I am towards Rachel Comey, she wasn't the only one headed in a more modest direction. In addition to many a boyish nod witnessed on the runways last week in New York blazers still reigned at Charlotte Ronson and Rag and Bone and even Marc Jacobs declared himself sick of "seeing young girls wearing black and studs" (I could kiss his feet for saying this).

Perhaps the most surprising and reassuring evidence of the new mood was Alexander Wang's evolution. Themain force behind the trend of all things ripped and studded, he finally proved himself in my eyes as having longevity with his line up of jocky models. Keeping hold of his burgeoning sporty trademark with an American Football theme, Wang opted for a softer colour scheme, swapping his previous love of head to toe gunmetal tones for beige and off-white greys and even a little pastel.

One thing seems to be clear; the 80s revival has finally come to an end. With any luck we can hold off referencing shoulder pads and neons for the foreseeable future. The fact that fashion is in danger of recycling a decade for a longer period of time than it initially existed for is too ironically bittersweet. Though touches of the 1990s have been creeping through over the past couple of seasons, it seems now, at the dawn of a new decade that the minimal silhouettes and simple block colours favoured almost twenty years ago are to be fully embraced. Proof came from the perfectly simple peach creations at Donna Karan and the Preen collection which I thought at some moments was subtely reminiscent of Phoebe Philo at Chloe.

Rodarte's dresses were breathtaking and though I was initally of the view that Kate and Laura Mulleavy could have done more to expand the brand's style, I'm won over by the stunning tie dye and sequin combinations which force me to take back anything I may ever have said about either of the details. A hit with the Fashion editors, I guess that the pair's designs will become editorial favourites and a preferred red carpet choice.

I imagine the desks of Jack and Lazarro at Proenza Schouler to have had stacks of books containing underwater illustrations. At Proenza the hair paid homage to the emerging trend of zany-dye colours and was perfection; though perhaps not in the technical sense with models alternating between irregular dipped ends, in tinges of silvered purple, metallic green or copper. A number of skirt and top combinations were equally distinctive of both electric coloured seacreatures and their inquisitive human scuba investigators. This was in the form of stretchy marine blue tops, almost akin to wetsuit texture (curiously appealing) and the textured skirts which in any other line up could be mistaken for tribal, but here were unmistakably fishy..

Either way, the collection was typically Proenza Schouler in it's shape; a formula of flawless minidresses and foolproof hemlines.The metallic colours were suitably un-bling, instead fresh, youthful -as original as ever especially when injected with the rest of the colour pallete which was darker than your average spring scheme.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Friday, September 11, 2009

what a gloriously sunny day it has been.these days in england summer pretty much comes in first two weeks of september.we should grow accustomed to this and expect nothing else. rather than whinging about the climate as we always do.so to celebrate the fine, fine day, some snaps of isabelle mcnally.here's to the changing of seasons. i can smell autumn in the air, even if the sun hasn't quite caught on yet.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Another branch on that "French actress, simple beauty, enviable wardrobe" tree.
Style wise Léa Seydoux has that boyish Gallic charm; you know the type that causes you to embrace the 'buy expensive basics' philosophy so that your wardrobe will be built around well cut tuxs, cashmere cardigans and silky blouses.

Looks like COS got it's arse into gear and has finally embraced technology with a brand spanking new site. I must say, I'm very impressed; with a video as jaw-droppingly beautiful as this (see below) to welcome you, the site is off to a promising start.

Whilst being very much in-keeping with the brand's clean cut and minimal aesthetic, the site also has blog-like ambiguously named sections dedicated to things like, well, "things". That's photographs by André Kertész and interior inspiration, in case you were wondering. The layout is also uniquely pleasing with all of the different sections laid on the home page, you are free to drag your mouse across the screen as a way of navigating.

The most important question, however, is yet to be answered, for there is still no sign of an online store. Sigh, we shall have to continue to wait for the day that we may order cashmere socks, cigarette pants or silky underwear and pretend to be Charlotte Gainsbourg. I have a feeling though, that we won't be waiting very long.

Monday, September 07, 2009

The subject of aging is an interesting one. Because it's also bloody complicated. Straight away we're faced with the question of beauty and it's correlation with one's age. Is it the endless possibilities, the spontanious tendencies and gaiety of youth, combined with a fortunate gene-pool that make you double take at a pretty face? But what about a woman who has reached a stage in her life when she has the attraction of wisdom in her favour but also perhaps the lumps and bumps of life lessons learnt? Both are sexy for two completely different reasons, but somehow, during conversations with friends in which Kate Moss is the focus, the latter viewpoint is discarded.

Instead a stroll down memory lane ensues with coos of "oh, but she was so freshfaced and cute then" or "remember her pixie cut when she was with Jefferson?" Usually such a stance would unleash my defending quips; 'why on earth must a woman be seen to need to shed her sexiness and beauty in exchange for aging'? I would honour Moss for the sake of the lessons she taught my ten year old self from the pages of Vogue, but in this case I'm a useless patron because I must nod my head, much as it pains me to do so and admit that with age, Kate Moss has lost that Je Ne Sais Quois she once possessed.

I like to remember the naughty see-through dress worn to a premiere but with an honest smile which cast her as sweeter than Naomi. The simple sweaters and jeans paired with her trusty Adidas trainers and a pair of stupid glasses. Her infamous centre parting and simple layers that framed her babyface. A pair of paint splattered grey tracksuit bottoms. Perhaps this is a classic case of pining over bygone eras, especially as almost two decades down the line, the 1990s possess now those characteristics of an easily defined age. The stylish minimalism, the brit-pop movement and of course the age of the supermodel, all something that Kate Moss carries multiple links to.

So maybe it's no wonder that Kate Moss has lost her charm when we're now on the periphery of a new unknown decade. One where the status of celebrity has grown so much that even a figure like Moss who so notoriously shunned public speaking and interviews has her own clothing line. But the so called life span of a Supermodel mustn't be forgotten. What is a model to do when she matures but still possesses selling power? A branding transformation including a flashy logo and bottle after bottle of eponymous perfume seems to be the modern day marketing man's idea. But with the likes of Helena Christensen looking as glowing and gorgeous as ever and carving a new career out of an interest like photography, Kate Moss's path seems somewhat stale in comparison.

Maybe I'll have to make do with my Moss memory and go back to those old Vogues, which now years down the line are a little crispy at the corners but still leave me more sated.

The end of last week saw me channeling the land girls of World War Two. My own adapted version of course, for as much as I'd love to be the owner of some brown dungarees or work trousers, a wooly cardigan with elbow patches had to suffice. I tried my hand at pinning the front sections of my hair back with kirby grips, popped on some red lippie and contemplated changing my name to Nettie, or Dot.

The BBC has scheduled a happy coincidence for my nostalgia in the form of a new 5 part drama unsurprisingly called "Land Girls". The reviews seem to approve, so with luck the mini-series will be able to provide my sartorial tastebuds with more in the way of overalls, welly, and headscarf combos.

Friday, September 04, 2009

I hear that King and Queen of cool, Terry Richardson and Jen Brill are tying the knot!Where girl crushes are concerned, Jen Brill is my second-in-command after Chloe Sevigny, so I feel genuinely excited for these two strangers.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

I bought rather a lot on my last trip to London. Yes, in a "oh, shit, I appear to have dipped into my New York funds" kind of way. I went with the intention of finding a velvet dress (I plumped for a knee length red skirt which I have since taken up) and more importantly a pair of Brown Justin boots. (I've been looking since April) Seriously have considered incorporting religion into my life after the perfect pair of boots made their way into my hands, for just £35 at Spitalfields market. I died.

Ever read something on this blog that touched you, made you guffaw, or that you passed onto a friend because you thought they might like it? If so, would you like to buy me a coffee to enjoy whilst I write?